“Oh My Son, Remember…” – Letters to Calder on His Mission

Calder, Another great week in the books! And another crazy Sunday. I'm thinking next Sunday should be a much easier day. Our Saturday night ended so late because of HOCO! McKay and Henry got home around 1am and we talked and laughed about their dates until 2am. Dad and I were up at 6:45sm for a 7:30am virtual YM/YW meeting. We rushed to our ward, conducted the 2nd hour meeting together, I rushed into the Primary room to practice "The Olive Tree" with the Gonzales girls and cousins, went to the 6th ward sacrament meeting to hear Tai's report, accompanied the girls (and hardly made one mistake, which was a true miracle and tender mercy), ran home to put a salad together for the after party/Tai's welcome home at the Draper Park, stayed and ate for a second at the park, hurried home to gather all the stuff for John Gilbert's after party/farewell that we were in charge of, went to the Gilbert's sacrament meeting (where John gave a great talk and Clark - ...

Dear Calder, You were so sweet last week to text and ask how everyone's first week of school went. I think everyone felt good about it. Jane has transitioned well to going to school all day. Some of the kids in the neighborhood who are in 1st grade with her have been crying and running away from school. Super grateful that's not the experience we are having with Jane. There's a little 6th grade drama going on with Gwen and Eden. This is the first time Gwen has ever been in the same school with Eden. They are different grades and Eden is a little bossy with Gwen. Gwen has seriously grown up so much and wants nothing to do with being bossed around, so she's kind of giving Eden a slightly cool shoulder and needing a bit more space. It's a really tricky spot to be in for me. I am hoping things work themselves out. Henry and McKay just seem to already be on cruise control. I can feel that life is just a bit more dramatic and emotional when you are a 6th grad...

I'm seriously just sitting down at the end of a long Sunday that I feel like I've run through...starting around 7:15 this morning, ward choir practice at 8:25am, church from 9am-11am, did some YW visits before I snuck in to hear Nathan Mackey talk in church at 11:55am, did some more YW visits, ran to Nathan's open house at 1pm, stake youth choir rehearsal at 2:30pm, home for Father's blessings at 4pm, started preparing dinner a little after 5pm, over to the Hilton's to visit Annie at 5:30pm, ate dinner at 6:30pm, went to the "street treats" at 7:15pm (ward walk about to get to know our ward better), a couple late night YW visits to those I couldn't catch today, upstairs to cuddle with Jane for a second and finally sitting down to write my favorite missionary. Okay...where to start. I guess I'll go the opposite direction tonight....starting with my crazy Sunday and working back. Tomorrow is the start of a new school year. A couple of weeks ago...

It was a fast a furious week! I don't think we have our wedding legs yet with this being our first Calder wedding. It was great though! We had a really fun bridal shower on Wednesday morning for James. We worked hard to make it special. I included some of the pictures with the big balloons in our pool. We had a great time celebrating Erin and James. We had about 45 people come - lots of family and close friends. It was HOT! Erin comes from a great family. She's from North Carolina. Her Dad's a convert as of recently. There are varying levels of activity in her family, which makes getting married in the temple tricky when family members can't be there. It's also a little awkward when the people sealing your daughter is the groom's father (yes, Clark was the sealer and it was AWESOME!) and the bride's father isn't able to come BUT James, Erin, Christine and Clark handled everything so beautifully and Christ-like. The spirit was so strong at ev...

I'm always on such a high after we talk to you. And I always wish I had written your letter before we talk, but today has been so busy. I literally had a 3 hour YWs meeting after church, followed by the missionary meeting with McKay, Bishop and Dad, right into another meeting with Dad and Bishop....I think he was just checking in with us - but to be honest, he asked us a lot of questions and I am worried that he was feeling us out to be the new Stake Trek Masters or something....I'm trying to put it out of my mind. I got to church at 8:30am and got home at 3:30pm. That's not a big deal for you as a missionary but my church muscles are not that strong...especially after the month of July off (family month). Anyways, that was a long explanation to say why I haven't gotten to writing your letter yet. Well, my pics are pretty lame this week. It's been a busy one. Most of my pics are of Jane because she always asks me to take pictures of her. The week flew by!...